


Cold As Ice

by Kadorienne



Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Hypothermia, M/M, Pre-Movie, Pseudo-Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-22
Updated: 2012-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-14 19:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/518623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kadorienne/pseuds/Kadorienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Your hands are like ice!" Thor exclaimed, genuinely horrified.</p><p>"My hands are always like ice, Thor," Loki reminded him, long-suffering.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold As Ice

**Author's Note:**

> A [tumblr post](http://mosellegreen.tumblr.com/post/30587999033/deefic-sourwolf-i-love-that-for-every-ship) by [the brilliant Alis Dee](http://archiveofourown.org/users/dee) made me muse about this, and then [Grey Bard](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Grey_Bard) pointed out how it could be done, and betaed the cracktastic result.

"I thought frost giants would be everywhere. There is not even one."

Thor's voice was sulky in the biting wind. Loki sighed and marshalled his patience. Dealing with older brothers always took a lot of patience. Even if they were pleasant to look at while one was tolerating their numerous flaws.

"If we have to take my secret paths between worlds instead of asking Heimdall to open the Bifrost, we must come out wherever they take us." Loki had tried to explain this before they had left, but as usual, Thor was too intent on whatever adventure he imagined they were going to have to listen to such tedious things as factual information. "This is the only path to Jotunheim that I know of. It's hardly my fault if it opens onto a deserted area with no frost giants hanging about waiting for you to kill them."

Thor's sole reply was to stomp more loudly for the next minute, as if enough petulance on his part would produce some obliging targets. Loki rolled his eyes behind his brother's back and trudged after him with resignation.

After an hour of walking, still no frost giants had presented themselves and night was falling fast. That much, Loki blamed himself for. If he was going to abet Thor in this folly, he should at least have insisted on starting in the morning, when they would have had plenty of daylight for the excursion. But Thor had pestered him so much to get him to agree at all that he had been too vexed to think things through as carefully as he should.

"We have no choice," Thor at last admitted, grudging. "We must make camp for the night."

They found shelter, of sorts, amidst a few sharp icy boulders - they gave some respite from the wind, at any rate. Thor hunched himself in his furs and wrapped his arms around himself. Loki followed suit, not because the cold bothered him but because Thor would bother him if he didn't. Nobody ever believed that cold just didn't trouble him. When he was a child, their mother had bundled him up till he could hardly move in the winter months, but all mothers did that. It was when he had been older that the difference had really emerged. Other people, huddled in thick cloaks, would stare at him as he strolled about in light silks. He had acquired the habit of wearing coats and furs when others did to avoid the odd looks and tiresome remarks.

Really, he didn't know why most of the Aesir were so petrified of cold. He found it rather pleasant. Bracing. Natural.

His musings were interrupted by the impact of an avalanche of warm, fur-wrapped thunder god descending onto him. "What are you doing, you oaf?" Loki snapped, not beause he minded but because his reactions to his brother required careful concealment. When Thor forgot they were no longer children and tried to form a puppy-pile with him, it was best to discourage him and avoid questions much more awkward than why he wasn't wearing a coat.

"We have to share body heat," Thor said reasonably. "I know you don't like being touched," this last was accompanied with an affectionate squeeze, because in a cuddly mood Thor didn't much care what the cuddlee liked, "but it's better than freezing to death, is it not?"

"Oh, I suppose," Loki said as ungraciously as possible, secretly delighted to have such a perfect excuse. He squirmed into a better position so their chests were pressed together and rested his head on his brother's shoulder. All in the service of keeping warm, of course.

The only problem was that Thor could not remain still. He kept wriggling around distractingly, trying to get his feet and hands warmer. He had his hands in his own armpits for a bit, but then decided it would be more convenient to put them in Loki's. But Loki's were not very warm, which inspired Thor to generously chafe Loki's hands between his to warm them up. Which was all right until Thor pulled Loki's gloves off to better attack them.

"Your hands are like ice!" Thor exclaimed, genuinely horrified.

"My hands are always like ice, Thor," Loki reminded him, long-suffering. Thor had always complained about it. His feet, too; as children, sometimes they had shared a bed and Thor had been most vocal in his displeasure if Loki's cold feet touched him.

"We are not usually in the midst of a blizzard!" Thor brought Loki's fingers to his mouth and huffed warm breath on them in a futile attempt to warm them. "You have poor circulation. You should train more," he scolded.

Loki only shrugged. He had tried that a few years ago, spending just as many tedious hours on the practice fields as Thor. His body would heat up while he was actually in the midst of exercise, but as soon as he stopped it began to drop to normal. Which was to say, considerably cooler than that of most Asgardians.

"We must warm you up," Thor was saying. "I never should have let you come with me, this cold is too much for you. You are not robust!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "You never could have gotten here at all without me, let alone gotten back. And I am better suited to the cold than...." His voice trailed off, because Thor was unfastening his jerkin and unlacing his tunic. "I thought you were cold."

"Do you not recall what we were taught about freezing? We must press together, skin to skin, to warm you before you freeze to death! Are your fingers too numb to undo your own clothes? Let me help you!"

And Thor started fumbling Loki's jerkin open. Loki, whose fingers were fully operational and who found the temperature perfectly comfortable, could only stare as one of his long-held fantasies was fulfilled: his gorgeous, muscle-bound brother tearing his clothes off. Had he been less shocked he would have put a stop to it before his reaction became too plain, but as it was, before he recovered from his amazement Thor's hard muscled chest was pressed against his own, bare skin to bare skin.

"Do not worry, brother," Thor said, his voice pitched higher than usual with the anxiety he was trying to hide. The adorable oaf was probably trying to reassure himself more than Loki. "I will revive you, you will be fine."

"Oh, I am certain of that," Loki replied happily, wriggling closer.

Loki was not going to let this opportunity go to waste. He wound his arms around Thor, taking full advantage of the chance to put his cold hands all over that muscular physique. Thor winced at the icy touch but for once made no protest.

Thor kept rubbing his hands up and down Loki's back, trying to stimulate his circulation, but Loki's skin stubbornly remained as cool as it usually was. The contact did stimulate something else, though.

Thor drew back enough to frown at him. "Loki, you - how is it possible in this cold-"

Loki forced himself to shift his groin a bit away. "It's a physiological reaction some men have," he lied. "I've read about it." He hadn't, so far as he could tell most men stayed soft in cold temperatures, but he spoke with such matter-of-factness that Thor accepted the lie easily.

Several minutes later, Loki was cheerfully enjoying the carte blanche to grope his hunk of a brother without suspicion as to his perverted motives when Thor suddenly raised his head. "Loki," he said, very gravely, "you are still as cold as ice."

Damn. Now he would have to stop. "I'm sorry," he lied, "I'll stop freezing you with my-"

Thor did not seem to have heard him. He drew a deep breath. "Loki, I know this will be abhorrent to you, but it is the only way I can think of to warm you enough that you will not freeze to death. It is my fault that you are in this danger and I must help you."

Loki tried to imagine what Thor was going to suggest that would be so abhorrent. He failed. "Well, I would rather not freeze to death." That much was true, at any rate; the only lie was the implicit one that he was worried about doing so.

Thor searched Loki's face anxiously. "You know I only suggest this out of concern for your welfare, I wish only to help you, my brother?"

Loki nodded, wondering what in the world Thor was about to propose.

Thor visibly steeled himself... and reached for the drawstring on Loki's breeches. Loki's eyes bulged as Thor tugged both their trousers down.

"The friction will raise your body heat," Thor explained hastily. "I would never suggest this except to save your life, Loki, you know that!"

"Oh, of course you wouldn't," Loki said automatically, too dazed to really respond.

Thor hesitated, looking him up and down, before blurting out, "Since you have this - this physiological response, I think we had better...." He could not continue, but seized Loki and rolled them over so that Loki was on top of him.

This _was_ turning out to be an interesting expedition.


End file.
